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Sitemap --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- More interesting items/ideas for a Bioshock Rapture MMORPG --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- . Part 29 . . --- --- --- --- --- -- Bicycle use in Rapture (short to medium distance travel) : Trolley tracks are flat enough and surfaced to serve as 'road' or bike paths (with space to move to side to let the frequent trolleys through -- "Ding Ding-Ding Went the Trolley.."). We certainly saw enough ads for bicycles, and even many bicycles themselves sitting around forlorn in Rapture (so they must have had uses). How different would it be to be running after a Splicer and he gets on a bike and races away from you. Or a gang of Splicers suddenly descend on you, riding (half-arsed, cobbled together) motorized bikes ... Bicycles - I saw advert on wall in Fort Frolic (and saw some in Olympus Heights trolley areas) : - I suppose there is enough space on 'Streets' to use them and some tunnels would be long enough for a proper ride - Rural 'outside Rapture' areas with long tunnels connecting various parts... - The 'Stadium' would be large enough for a good ride (a track around the field's edge) - one more Sport to interest people. - Splicers on Bicycles !!!! Someone probably would have turned some into 'Motor Cycles' ... "The Wild One" all over again. - Riding a Bicycle into someone intentionally - another anti-griefing endcase to handle. (actions have repurcussions - Constables do enforce 'public safety' edicts --- "There is only one Law in Rapture" again proven rediculously 'fabricated'). --- --- --- --- --- -- "Religion" in a Rapture MMORPG : Probably something the Game Company wouldnt want to touch with a 6 Fathom pole. Prohibition on Religion was rescinded in New Rapture. There will be No State Church, the Citizen has a Right to their own religious beliefs, but no Right to force it on others. No official 'state' church in New Rapture is to exist, but Citizens of various denominations might build their own (Alexis de Tocqueville mentions looking at one American town and seeing many dozens of different churches of all sizes...) The number of smuggled crosses in BS1 showed that numerous citizens wanted religion despite any official restrictions. Religion might have failed Ryan as a child, when the Bolsheviks murdered his family. But the lack of it turned his old homeland into a hellhole of fear, misery and mass-graves. Religion is one of the great factors that make Societies work -- an answer to the criminal who simply says "Who are any of YOU to tell ME what is Right or Wrong...." Is 'Charity' neccessarily 'Altruism' ??? The Great Chain to move Rapture forward needs to have broken links repaired from time to time ... Ryan should have been shown as more practical, with people trapped in his creation which he himself admits will go thru phases of difficult adjustments. How exactly could Religion be shown in the MMORPG ?? Creations of the buildings and their accessories is one thing. Public signs and various media advertisements... NPCs involvement simulations ??? Religious interactions can bet rather complex. May be moot point with game company wanting to avoid any manifestation like the plague -- to avoid any 'controversy'... They would have to define the Policy on what to allow. --- Twisted idea for Bioshock MOD (concept) : Level(s) for a Rapture-style Disneyland-like place (maybe a amusement park inside Rapture??? -- Built by Splicers AFTER they went insane ... giving it and even more warped look ??) Of course all the names are changed 'to protect the guilty' - wouldnt be anything the game company would distribute and only Players could do properly for a laugh. The Client-based test simulator might be able to run a moderately interactive (level) chunk of Assets. This couldnt be all or Rapture -- http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100305123603/bioshock/images/d/de/Rapture_trailer.jpg and this looks too large : http://www.wallpaperhi.com/search-rapture/page_1/latest Odd looking 'costumed' Splicers (a popular/amusing 'mod' mechanism). 'Main Street' can be have signs saying 'Welcome to Columbia'. Disneyland was built by 1955 (fairly quickly actually) - a little late for anyone in Rapture to even know what it was - perhaps some BS:I style 'Tear' weirdness is involved as an excuse. You may learn that Disney lawyers are far more frightening than any Splicer ever was ..... Doable with the 'Mod' release of Bioshock "Rapture Forever" (far more likely than all this MMORPG idea). Who seriously never wanted to go into 'Its a Small World' with a shotgun ???? Now THAT would have been interesting 'Journey to the Surface" having an inane endless themesong playing incessantly (they would have had to add an ability to shoot the wall mounted announcement/music speakers -- and every time you destroyed that source of annoyance you would hear yet another one playing off in the distance). --- --- --- --- - "Bosses" that might still be around in the MMORPG - Did you Kill them in the Solo games?? : Players love bits of the previous games to be involved with the current one, So are Gil Alexander/Stanley Poole/Grace Holloway/Sander Cohen/Sinclair/Sofia Lamb still around to interact (drive plot) with ?? (And did they change after their encounter with Jack/Delta ??) You might not be able to interact with them directly face-to-face again (hard to justify an 'impervious' nature required since every player will want to try to kill them "just to try it"). Would be of interest for Players to see what happened to the BS1 personalities in the intervening years. Were you sure you actually killed them (that Vita-Chamber thing makes 'all bets are off ...) And one whack and their dead ?? (I had a general disappointment that they didnt fight back much or even last longer than a packet of Capt. Salty's Chips in front of a Big Daddy). No? Please think... (You put a gun to your head, blew your brains out and came back to life after 7+ years, so is it SO impossible that all those interesting personalities were just good at "playing dead" ??) --- Building Rapture bits - prefab ("Rapture wasnt built in a day, but..."): Rapture's tall buildings, even the thick concrete ones without a thinner shell of Ryanium, would if sealed and filled with air, float. That would allow partial construction near the surface, where it would be simpler/easier than at 600+ feet down. The structural shells could be fabricated in sections at a shallow enough depth for normal divers to work and within reach of above-surface machinery (at less than 100 feet). Much smaller sub-sections also could be pre-assembled out of the water (on ships /barges), for even more convenience/efficiency. The fabricated sections would then be slowly sunk (pressurizing as they descended), tied into their anchoring foundation on the seabed, and connected/fastened together to build those tall structures we've seen. Once whole, secured and watertight, all water would be pumped out to allow the work on the interior spaces (inner walls and cosmetic surfacings, utilities, etc), which still was a substantial amount of work (but doable via ordinary means by workers NOT wearing cumbersome diving suits).. This 'shallow construction' process would require fewer men to be in those complex/unweildy hardsuits (required below 150 ft depth) and still be easier than many of the automated deep-water construction methods. The top of Mount Ryan (the undersea volcano Rapture is built upon) has a good sized area within 100 feet of the the surface where much of this pre-building work could/would be done. The building assemblies (small and large) also could be built elsewhere (more convenient - particularly for materials, AND where environmental factors are much friendlier), then be towed to Rapture's location. Fewer construction workers at the Rapture site meant better controlled 'secrecy' and fewer unwilling/problematic immigrants to deal with in the future. Reducing the cost/effort/time/complexity to construct many of Rapture's buildings would help a good deal in getting it done in the timespan we are told of, and reduce the monetary cost - allowing Ryan's City to be as big/grand as what we see. Ryan would have some real deep sea oil platforms to act as cover for this construction process - both as fake destinations for the 'sections' AND to use such platforms to do alot of the construction away from the prying eyes of the 'ant people'. The results would be towed off to some unmentioned destination (Rapture) and his trusted employees would obtusify the details (the financing would be out of his own pocket and from the other Rapture investors, so no bothersome stockholders to ask inconvenient questions). --- Smart Phones - MMORPG Mini-Games and 'getting stuff done' Apps : All the text/web type Assets should be no problem (not a huge amount of system resources or display quality is required, communications often 'batched' and not requiring continuous connection). - In-Game mail and bulletin board 'postings' - keep up with the latest doings in New Rapture. Directories of people/businesses you may want to contact. - Clearing House - buy sell items - obtain those things you need for your projects - City Paperwork/Bounty - file official stuff or lookup various city information (and job postings, etc..) . In New Rapture the paperwork is streamlined, as its to facilitate productive activities and prevent disputes and NOT to justify alot of bureaucrats parasitical jobs. - Pneumo Remote Shopping - buy stuff you will need, from convenience of your own residence. - Team Task Tracker - keep your NPCs busy doing all that tedious stuff, or have them ready to go when you get online on your gaming machiine. - Store Management - manage you NPC run store/business/production - In-game Media feed - TV news/shows, Radio broadcasts, Newspapers/magazines (want ads...) - U-Invent fabrication/repair system - create useful stuff from all that junk you collect - Farm-It - farm management - easy peasy mode or micro-manage to maximize your yield. Rapture has many hungry mouths to feed... - Training/Research manager - advance you and your NPC Team's skills and move forward your project research. - City Map - plan how to get your team to your 'jumping off point' into the ruins. Will probably have to be 3D to visualize it properly, with X-ray zoomable rotating view. May even be useful to have next to you while playing on your PC. Directory of interesting places and your own flagged locations. Automatic Pathfinding thru available transportation paths is not overly taxing on even low end handheld processors these days. - Intelligence feeds - keep up with status of happenings outside the New City - what do the City's spys say the Splicers are up to ?? - Inventory preparation - why dither about later on-line when there is adventuring to do (on your Game Machine) Mission Games - simple touch interface (with lots of scenarios) : - Mr Security-bot - endless mission chasing Vermin, Splicers, criminals, and spotting Leaks (you didnt think that Security-bots could level ?? Upgrades for those that survive and exceed their programming). - Little Sister Adventures - they live in their own world, but can have many odd adventures as they seek out their ADAM. Big Daddy is usually there to handle the 'angels' that are not quite dead yet.... - Repair-It - use your skills and components you have obtained to deftly repair valuable machinery you need or can sell. Puzzle out solutions - when you dont quite have the pieces you need. And lots lots more... Many of the above would have synchronization/communication with the online game so that info changes/setting made on the palmtop/tablet would be updated on the PCs version of the interface. --- --- --- --- --- --- - Visions of Greatness (again) : In Agamemnon Towers West, I think one of my first projects will be getting the elevators working .... 20 stories and having to use the stairs gets old pretty quick -- even the ex-spider-splicers are complaining. Repressurizing the other half of the interior space might be actually the first thing to do (will need a Diving Suit for that). Many of those tall building have penthouses, which might make for nice digs for an up and coming 'bigman' in the reborn Rapture. I fix it up and there wont be any rent to pay. - Shoveling out all the moldy decaying materials that sat in cold sea water for years will take time. Best to just seal off many sections for now (after a quick survey to spot anything good worth salvaging) and then let whoever wants to occupy that area clean it out for themselves. The utility shut-offs did work when the building flooded and likely will continue to work -- Safety Doors will be checked for pressure integrity. The transportation ways will be cleared to restore easy access to the building and hopefully the building core is laregly intact so that the elevators soon can be made to work again. --- --- --- --- -- Ammo - a key resource : In Rapture by the Post-Lamb era, things like ammunition are starting to run out in the occupied areas, so you would probably see a shift to renewable ammo type weapons (hand weapons, spearguns, crossbows, and such). Part of the game would be going into drowned/wrecked/closed off 'wild' areas to salvage things you need for rebuilding. No doubt there will still be alot of all kinds of other useful stuff to be found in those areas. Certain Quest/Missions probably will require the added firepower that some of those supplies would provide. Even whole vending-machines might be 'rescued' and hauled back to civilization to be put back into their intended use (or at worst spare parts to repair others). --- --- --- --- -- Not quite Atlantis : "Cameo" - as in you are 'tooling around' in your lil Sub and you come upon a weird sunken 'city' that once looked like it was supposed to float in the sky (now at the bottom of the sea mere miles from one of Raptures outlying communities). And on finding it, the Rapture City authorities dig up the information of it having been built by some madman way back at the turn of the century, who never actually got it to fly (for obvious reasons) and it barely even floated on the Ocean's surface. It had floated around in the Atlantic for years having declared itself to be a 'Sovereign state' and became home to a crazy bunch of rich people (and their sycophants), and more than a few criminals types. Apparently the people there ALL used way too many hallucinogenic drugs. Eventually it sank in a Storm in the North Atlantic near the Denmark Straight, taking all its inhabitants to Davy Jones Locker. Sander Cohen probably would have loved to be King of that place.... Doesnt have to be the whole of Columbia, just some of the more recognizable assets (rebuilt by enterprising Players) - the whole place might even just be all a Flashback by one of the Construction Divers who was suffering from a Hallucination from Nitrogen Narcosis.... City sections connected by roller-coasters is just too tall a tail... In any case, much of it has rotted away after being underwater for more than 50 years, but no doubt there might be interesting things to salvage. --- --- --- -- Interesting idea from what someone wrote in the Forum SitS discussions : That evidence of Rapture found floating in the ocean/washing up on beaches would be a bad thing, and that Ryan would arrange for measures to prevent such things happening. He would probably have the City Council make a provision for any garbage collecting contracts to make sure that anything dumped into the Ocean would be rendered unintelligible. Garbage could be a profitable business with the addition of recycling for materials not easy to get in Rapture (profits coming, profits going - as Sinclair would say). So that means there would be one or more central garbage processing centers, probably with some interesting high-tech machines to limit the manual labor required. Anything useful that can be seperated out would be (including organic matter useful as fertilizer or to produce methane or CO2 for the farms) and anything else going to incinerators near the surface (where alot of free air is available). Reuseables like glass bottles would be collected (as was common in the real world in that era). --- --- - Eve Plants : A project to generate EVE using geneticly altered plants had been previous carried out (under Fontaine or Ryan). The plants had somehow got out of the lab during The Chaos and spread into Rapture and was now producing EVE for much of the Splicer population. There is still sufficient ADAM (and Little Sisters) and working Gatherer's Gardens (or Faction run labs) around for the mayhem to continue. Later Plasmids/Tonics were designed to deteriorate slower (versus Fontaine's, since he wanted always to sell more), so the Splicers in the time of the MMORPG would not lose their powers anywhere as fast (and may not get as crazy as with the earlier versions). The demand for ADAM is thus somewhat less, but EVE is needed as always. The Eve Plants can be cultivated with a little care in a simple flowerbox or common hydroponic garden unit. The Players will find these all over Rapture. EVE is used as part of Tenenbaum's "the Cure" process, so Eve Plants are also grown in New Rapture. The processing/purification of useable EVE is also relatively simple and commonly known. --- --- - Police in Rapture (the old days) : There were the City Constables (and Ryan's security men) which enforced 'ordinances' (?) Ryan Security (a seperate business) - http://images.wikia.com/bioshock/images/5/59/Ryan_security.png Companies no doubt hired their own additional security as did rich people (what they then did with the perpetrators ??? If there are 'no laws' ?? -- Having Ryan make such a statement is very bizarre.) Private security - poster advertizing a private Police business. For fixed security systems ( http://images.wikia.com/bioshock/images/a/a2/Security_Sign_diffuse.png ) Video Tape recording became practical in 1956 (by Ampex), so the technology was either imported by the time of the Civil War (1959) or the start of The Chaos (1960) or previously developed by Raptures boffins. Police - Not sure how practical all this would be without spelled out city 'ordinances' (even Ryan would see a need for some public civic law and order organization). This is somewhat contradictory to there being 'No Laws' ... BTW Randian Objectivism was not Anarchism, and a government controlled law enforcement system was integral to any larger society's operation.) Companies selling Security hardware like Security Bots (apparently for private/commercial sales) http://images.wikia.com/bioshock/images/5/58/Fightinbot1a.png http://images.wikia.com/bioshock/images/b/be/Zapbot1.png -- (and this one implies Fontaine also had a Security 'Bot' business.) Poppadopolis Police Department ( a private subscription police force ) No Legal Courts in Rapture?? How exactly were petty criminals to be handled ? And civil disagreements ??? A City of 20000+ would need some kind of system (and NO, Ryan would have had to know this as a practical matter). (They certainly had hints of other things that warped the way you were to see Ryan, so there could have been similar hints to a realistic system of checks and balances...) The New Rapture situation would be a continuation of Ryans ideals (except no bizarre strawman of 'No Laws'). Ordinances for public safety and business proprieties. The 'carrot' method of convincing people to cooperate for the common good and individual advancement bringing improvements for all. --- --- Did you kill Mark Meltzer (as a Big Daddy seen in Fontaine Futuristics annex) in BS2 ?? : If you didnt then he is probably still walking around somewhere with Cindy. Tenenbaum is working on ways to 'Cure' the Big Daddies, and there is hope for all of them to be saved as many Splicers have been (and Little Sisters...) As with the bosses, can we be sure we really killed those Splicers? You turn your back on most 'dead' Splicers and they disappear on you (and leave a lockbox of loot they must be too weak to carry away??) Hint - in the MMORPG you might want to make sure your opponents arent playing dead (or rather they survive alot more (unconscious) and you better tie them up before they wake up and attack you again). The SitS materials are Lore/Canon, so expect Players (creating sub-plots in Quests/Missions) to make use of it (even if its just references to all the various SitS details without adding new ones). --- --- ADAM how it works : ADAM causes T-Cells to form in your body which allows modification of specific tissues. Plamid/Tonic DNA are also added which will guide and activate these T-Cells to form structures in a body to give it certain abilities. Plasmid (modified) tissues use EVE as an energy source/catalyst (an alternate high-energy metabolism mechanism) which is used up when the abilities are used. Tonics are similar but dont consume EVE to power their function. The Tissues created this way slowly break down (and to some extent original tissues grow back or revert to normal patterns/functions). To restore the 'ability' function, additional ADAM is needed to rebuild the patterned tissues, along with another booster of the patterned DNA (which also gets used up as tissue is modified). Some plasmids/tonics are more stable than others and require less frequent 'boosting'. Taking more than one Plasmid/Tonic can lead to 'genetic turbulance' where the tissue pattern changes interfere with each other (simultaneously or sequentially) which can lead to disrupting the ability targeted tissue and/or other tissues, resulting in deformities/tumors and other systemic disruptions. Different individual are effected to different degrees. Some peoples bodies can build up resistance/allergies/immunity to ADAM manipulation, bringing more secondary effects and requiring more ADAM to get the same ability effect. Some people the tissues dont break down as fast, in others faster. As ADAM technology advanced, narrower DNA patterns may have been developed which cause less turbulance and destructive reactions, both singularly and when mixed. Correct dosages of DNA to match the T-Cells also left less floating around in the body to interfere with later uses - particularly important for the more complicated Plasmids which required 'phased' modifications where changes had to be made in a specific order (using time delayed release of DNA and activation chemicals). Tissues once damaged will largely stay damaged or remain for long periods while the body slowly rebuilds itself. Stabalization factors may have been added into the process to alleviate some damage by using some fraction of the ADAM produced T-Cells to reinstitute/repair ordinary tissues using the persons original DNA. Tenenbaum's Cure is based on greatly increasing this 'fixer' process to resore most tissue to its natural DNA created state, as well as washing out any interfering plasmid/tonic DNA and eliminating/destroying non-original tissue for rebuilding (a slow process if the body system has to continue to function through the whole process). Thus, obtaining ADAM is still important in the MMORPG to effect the 'Cure' whichretores Splicers back into ordinary people. This process is being accelerated by a seperate process of culturing X-Cells from a person's DNA, which act similarly to ADAM T-Cells when used to restore the person's original/natural DNA tissue. Tenenbaum : "ADAM acts like a benign cancer, it destroys native cells and replaces them with unstable stem versions. While this very instability is what gives it its amazing properties this is also what causes the cosmetic and mental damage. You need more and more ADAM just to keep back the tide. From a medical standpoint this is catastrophic." More and more ADAM to retain the same modifications/abilities, more and more reactions and secondary effects that make the ADAM less effective (for the targeted ability) and requires larger amounts. Pouring more ADAM into your system to eventually destabalize it even more with increasing negative effects - especially if done frequently - not allowing the body to re-stabalize itself. Some of these T-Cells may destroy/modify original tissues, but others add to the body alongside the original structures (ie- your hand is still their along with the 'Insect Swarm' structures. Things that you need to function for you to live have to remain undisturbed). Real-world T-Cells BECOME specific tissue. These "unstable ADAM T-Cells" should be 'used up' to repattern/build the new modified/replaced tissue. But some dont wind up in the right place or are repatterned wrong (randomly or are scrambled by conflicting plasmid/tonic DNA) and cause the various disruptions/degenerations. Some of the T-Cells may be delayed in patterning themselves long enough to become damaged/erratic and thus malfunction. --- --- -- Leaky Rapture - how do all those cigarettes we see survive (hermeticly sealed packages ?) : Even 20 years later all those Raptures dwellers havent been able to kick the habit and Tobacco (or a geneticly modified producer of some kind) is still grown somewhere in Rapture. (just like theers more booze - but who says the bottles havent been refilled with homemade stuff dozens of times...) Good question is what happens to all the stuff our MMORPG adventurers carry when they inevitably get wet/soaked. Ordinary New Rapture items vs Water-proofed explorer/adventurer supplies (miners food buckets, oilskins/slickers/ macintoshes) etc... Better get yourself some good waterproof containers or suffer the consequences. Bandoleros, gun belts, etc... Spoilage by other means - thing burn,break, are wrecked by explosions, circuits fried, etc.. Dont worry, the Splicers have exactly the same problems. That will be something different guns jamming and misfiring and being used as a blunt instrument after its realized (remember the Serjeant in Private Ryan throwing his helmet at the German...) --- --- --- -- . . . . .